Cell Death 2

Introduction

This second lecture will focus upon programmed cell death, known as apoptosis. The previous lecture Cell Death 1 looked at mainly stress and pathological processes.

This single term "apoptosis" describes the way in which the majority of cells within our body are removed every day. While the morphological changes associated with this process are the same in all cells, the many different signaling pathways that "trigger" this process can be quite different.

Lecture Audio

The University has a system for automated recording of lectures called Lectopia. Lectopia requires login using your student number and unipass. I will be adding the link to each iLecture Audio following the Lecture. Due to the automated recording method, most lectures begin 4-5 minutes into MP3 recordings and occasionally stop before the end of the lecture.

Archive

MH - note that content listed below will not match exactly current lecture structure but has been selected as having similar content

Nobel Prize 2002

* Sydney Brenner (b 1927), Berkeley, CA, USA, established C. elegans as a novel experimental model organism. This provided a unique opportunity to link genetic analysis to cell division, differentiation and organ development – and to follow these processes under the microscope. Brenner's discoveries, carried out in Cambridge, UK, laid the foundation for this year's Prize.

John Sulston (b 1942), Cambridge, England, mapped a cell lineage where every cell division and differentiation could be followed in the development of a tissue in C. elegans. He showed that specific cells undergo programmed cell death as an integral part of the normal differentiation process, and he identified the first mutation of a gene participating in the cell death process.

Robert Horvitz (b 1947), Cambridge, MA, USA, has discovered and characterized key genes controlling cell death in C. elegans. He has shown how these genes interact with each other in the cell death process and that corresponding genes exist in humans.